The Townsend Thoresen reference on another thread got me thinking. I don't believe they exist any more, presumably due to their unfortunate habit of leaving the back door open on their ferries.

So on the subject of long forgotten brands or companies: I give you- the Betamax video

Psst, you could (last time I looked) still acquire a betamax machine. However the price is through the bleedin' roof and you'd need to actually go to a high-end dealer to find (or order) one. This MAY have changed in the last couple of years mind.
The betamax tape has been used for studio-quality sound recording - though with digital stuff all around us, that may have been squeezed to a tiny corner of the market.
Personally, I like tube equipment, t'aint nothing like them bulbs what take ages to warm up, but sound amazing and rich compared to the tin thin sanitized and numbered sound-wave. Yuk. (yes folks, "yuk" is making a comeback).

Oh and by the way Edna - your signature is gay.
Men allow you to talk nowadays you silly moo - still not necessarily to listen to the silly drivel, but you are allowed to rabbit.

Not a brand or company but I wonder whether kids these days even know what these things are.

I still have one of those TDK ones with a recording of Southern Sound on the night we lost to Gillingham at home in the league cup when their keeper got sent off, they put the 2nd shortest player on the pitch in net (only David Gipp was shorter) and we STILL lost on penalties!!

Also somebody mentioned Radio Rentals. I'm sure they had a shop in Churchill Square where come 4:45 on a Saturday afternoon, groups of men would congregate to watch the vidiprinter in action on Grandstand.

Looking back, I cannot fathom who came up with the idea that chucking a bunch of vile tasting syrup into supposedly carbonated but ultimately flat water would be somehow better than spending- what was it it in 1985- 25p? on a can of proper Coke?

The gas cylinders ran out after about three presses of the button, and the flavourings bore absolutely no resemblance to the branded drinks they were supposed to be. An utterly futile product, and yet apparently it still exists.

Seriously, who would buy a SodaStream now?

The lady has foolishly attempted to join the conversation with a wild and dangerous opinion of her own. What half-baked drivel! See how the men look at her with utter contempt.